HAMPTON, Va. — With a loud groan, and cheers and applause from a crowd of onlookers, Mary, the tunnel-boring machine, broke through onto the south island of the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel Wednesday afternoon.

“My friends, what a day," Gov. Glenn Youngkin said, offering remarks before the breakthrough.

Youngkin recalled a statement he said was made when the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel was built in the 1950s.

“There was a statement made that, I think, should be made again today," said Youngkin. "That statement was very clear. With the bridge tunnel, we have destroyed distance and conquered time. Destroy distance and conquer time. What a comment, what a statement, and what a reality that the largest highway construction project in Virginia's history is destroying distance and conquering t

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